Spark arrester



Jan. 1, 1929.

1,697,305 G. CARPENTER SPARK ARRESTER Filed Feb. 16, 1924 INVENTORATTORNEYS Patented Jan. 1, 1929.

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GUY CARPENTER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.-

I srnnx Annnsztnn- Application filed. February 16, 1924. Serial No.893,186.

My invention relates to the art of cooling and arresting heatedsubstances which are producedby combustion in the fire-box of alocomotive engine and usually discharged through the smoke-stack.

The object of my invention is to cause the sparks leaving the lire-boxto be carried through a long circuitous path in which they will besubjected to an extremely strong centrifugal force before they reach thesmoke box which, in itself, will have the result of cooling thesubstances.

Another object isto produce adevice of this character which, by reasonof its particular construction, will obviate the necessity of theutilization of a screen which I customarily use in devices for arrestingsparks.

A further object is to provide, in combination with such a construction,a collecting chamber in which the substances, thus cooled, may becollected.

My invention may be more easily understood by reference to theaccompanying drawings which embody a preferred form of construction. Inthe drawings, Fig. 1 shows a vertical longitudinal sectional view of aportion of the fire-box, smokestack, the chamber surrounding it, thesmoke-box, and my improved construction which is, in this illustration,enclosed within the smoke-box;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken on the line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, the reference numeral 10 is usedto indicate the smoke-box of a locomotive and which, preferably, extendsfurther forward than or dinary smoke-boxes now in use. The smoke box formy purposes, may be constructed and attached to the present typelocomotives as an extension, secured thereto in any suitable manner, andarranged at the front end to receive the front end connections of thelocomotive. The numeral 11 indicates a cylinder smaller than thesmoke-box and preferably mounted therein in such a manner as to providean annular space, either concentric or eccentric, (as illustrated it iseccentric) between the outer surface of the cylinder and the innersurface of the smoke-box. The rear end of the cylinder 11 is in closeproximity to the stack chamber and is completely closed therefrom by thedivision plate 12, which is perforated centrally to receive an open endof the central cylinder 13, mounted therein and is also provided with anopening 25 which connects the passage from the firebox with the cylinder11. The front end of this cylinder 13 is also open and the cylinder doesnot project forwardly as'far as the end of the smoke-box. I

A helically formed member 14 surrounds,

and is secured to, the inner cylinder 13, its

outer end contacting the inner wall of the cylinder 11, its front endbeing open so as to communicate with a chamber 15, formed in thesmoke-box in advance of the cylinder 13.

The inner surface of the cylinder 11'is provided, at selected points,with baffles 16 which are positioned to. oppose the direction of theflow of gases, the purpose of these baiiies being to catch any solidparticles'revolving around the inner surface of the cylinder 11. Slots,or'orifices 17 extend through the cylinder 11, the baiflesparallelingthe said slots, the purpose of the slots being to permit the solidsstriking the baflles to pass through the cylinder into the space betweenthe cylinder and the smoke-box.

As illustrated, the blades of the helically formed member 1 1 areinclined rearwardly, but it must be understood that they maybepositioned at any angle and will function satisfactorily nevertheless.

The numeral 18 indicates the stack and 19 the stack-chamber, which hasits base above the plane of the base of the cylinder 11 and an exhaustjet 20 extends from the bottom of the smoke-box upwardly through thebase of the stack-chamber, saidjet being obviously positioned centrallybelow th-e'open bottom of the stack 18. By this construction, asillustrated, a chamber is formed which leads from the fire tubes 21,below stack-chamber 19 and opens into the lower portion of the cylinder11, in which the cylinder 13 and the helically formed member 14: arelocated.

Through the chamber thus formed, the gases from the fire tub-es flowinto the cylinder 11 and are then forced into a rotary motion, inpassing around the cylinder 13 by striking the helically formed member,and finally they are discharged from the helically formed member intothe chamber 15 at the forward part of the smoke-box and sucked backthrough the inner cylinder 13 to the stackchamber and finally dischargedthrough the stack.

As the velocities produced by the action of the jet 20 are very high,the gases in passing through the helically formed member are revolvingat extremely high Velocity, thus.

creating a strong centrifugal force which acts upon the particlesofsolids, such as cinders, sparks and the like, in the products ofcombustion, and they are, consequently, thrown outward against the innersurface of the cylinder 11, caught by the baffles: 16a-nd conductedthrough the openings 17 into the annular space 22 between the cylinder11 and centrifugal action thus created is capable of attaining greatproportio'ns, which tends to make sure of the separation of the solidsfrom the gases and has, furthermore, the advantage" of not causing anyreversal of flow which wouldseriously impede the draft and causea lossthereof. 7

'Another greatadvantage of my constructionis that the products ofcombustion, after leaving the helicall'y former member 14 and beforeentering the cylinder 13, continue to revolve inside o'f the chamber 15at a very high velocity, thus still tending to retain any solid matterremaining in the products of i qmbustionat the inner periphery of thechamber 1.5. .This construction makes it very diflicult for theseparticles of matter to stop revolving andthen reverse their direction offlow in order to enter cylinder 13, the result being that any particleswhich ac'tuallyleave the helically formed member will be caught in thechamber 15, from which they may be cleared out through the door 23.

Having thusdescribed my invention, What I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States is: V

1. A spark arrester for locomotives em.- ploying a fire box, comprisinga smoke stack; a smoke chamber; a cylinder, provided with longitudinalopenings, mounted horizontally in the smoke chamber and in advance ofthe smoke stack; a b aiile on the inner wall of said cylinder, adjacenteach of said longitudinal openings; an inner cylinder, centrally locatedWithin the first mentioned cylinder; a helically formed member betweenthe two aforesaid cylinders, to form a spiral passage; and means toconduct the smoke from the iire box to, the spiral/passage formedbetween said two cylinders, before the smoke is permitted to reach thesmoke stack, substantially as shown and described.

2. A spark arrester for locomotives employing a. fire box, comprisingasmoke stack; a smoke chamber; acylin'der, provided with openingsthrough its wall, mounted in the smoke chamber; a helically formedmember, secured horizontally in said cylinder, and forming a spiralpassage therethrough; a battle on the inner Wall of said cylinder, ad-

j acent each of said openings; and means to conduct the smoke from thefire box to the scribed. V GUY CARPENTER.

